Written Answers Monday 20 July 2009

Scottish Executive

10th Anniversary Celebrations

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was to it of involvement in the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 2009 and from which budget line the expenditure was taken.

Bruce Crawford: The Scottish Government incurred no additional expenditure as a result of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 2009.

Alcohol Misuse

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of alcohol-related hospital admissions was repeat admissions in the Lothians region in 2008.

Nicola Sturgeon: Data for calendar year 2008 is not currently available. The latest available information is for year ending 31st March 2008.

  The number of repeat admissions for patients with an alcohol-related diagnosis treated in NHS Lothian is shown in the following table.

  The number of alcohol related admissions and repeat alcohol-related admissions (also expressed as a percentage), to general acute hospitals in NHS Lothian health board of treatment in 2007-08:

  

 Number of Admissions
 6,680


 Repeat Admissions
 2,374


 Percentage Repeat Admissions
 35.50%



  Source: Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland. SMR01 (Scottish Morbidity Record 01). Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland has recently reviewed and changed its core alcohol related code set. Figures may not be directly comparable with previously published figures, as these are based on a different coding set. Full details of this consultation are available at:

  http://www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/files/ICD10_codes_final_report.pdf.

Apprenticeships

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will challenge gender stereotyping and occupational segregation in the delivery of the additional 7,800 modern apprentices agreed as part of the Scottish budget negotiations.

Keith Brown: There are a number of barriers to be faced in tackling occupational segregation within the modern apprenticeship programme and a joint approach is needed to address this complex matter.

  The occupational segregation issue is not solely linked to modern apprenticeships. Labour market statistics demonstrate this is a wider issue. Skills Development Scotland have begun discussions with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the occupational segregation aspect of the equality impact assessment they will undertake in the coming year.

Apprenticeships

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many adult apprenticeship places were discontinued in 2008-09 and how many adult apprenticeships or apprenticeships with no age restrictions are being reintroduced in 2009-10.

Keith Brown: All adult apprenticeships started prior to April 2008 continued to be funded through to their completion in the following years. In addition, 1,526 adult apprenticeship starts were funded in 2008-09.

  So far, for 2009-10, funding has been approved for 4,000 adult apprenticeships. Details of funding for additional adult apprenticeships will be available soon.

Apprenticeships

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of concerns about gender segregation in the modern apprenticeship scheme identified by the 2004 General Formal Investigation by the Equal Opportunities Commission that led to the establishment of the Scottish Government’s Cross-Directorate Occupational Segregation Working Group, what actions it is taking to address occupational segregation in the scheme.

Keith Brown: Skills Development Scotland (SDS) will undertake an equality impact assessment on the modern apprenticeship programme in the coming year. Early discussions between SDS and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have indicated a willingness to work together on the focus of the occupational segregation aspect of the equality impact assessment.

  We recognise that there are barriers to overcome to balance gender participation in the modern apprenticeship programme. We also recognise that there is work to be done in changing industry perceptions and encouraging employers to recruit a diverse workforce. However, as the report found, this position is not simply as a result of the opportunities available to individuals. It is heavily influenced by peer pressure and parental expectation.

Aquaculture

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering a revision to the provisions of the Marine (Scotland) Bill regarding the issuing of activity planning consents for aquaculture.

Richard Lochhead: The Marine (Scotland) Bill proposes that consenting for aquaculture should be based on impact rather than activity. This is a complex issue and we continue to listen to representations on the best regime. The aquaculture industry is vitally important to Scotland and in order to help it develop sustainably a strategic approach is required.

Autism

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what data is collected on retention and achievement rates for students with autism.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government only holds general information on the numbers of students with a declared disability. We do not produce specific attainment data or retention rates broken down by type of disability. In terms of numbers of students, the Students in Higher Education at Scottish Institutions 2006-07 published in March 2008 shows that in 2006-07 the total number of students declaring a disability was 17,870, of which 115 declared autistic spectrum disorder as their primary disability http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/23093807/16 .

Child Protection

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure adequate provision for child protection in each local authority area.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government seeks to support local authorities in protecting children by overseeing that the system for protecting children in Scotland – its structures and its legislative and scrutiny regime – support local delivery of services which produce better outcomes for children at risk of neglect or abuse. The robust child protection inspection regime evaluates the provision of services in each local authority, and enables improvements.

  The Early Years and Early Intervention Framework, published in December 2008, and the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) programme, provides the overall strategy.

  The Scottish Government is taking vigorous action on several fronts:

  A review of the 1998 national child protection guidance, in line with GIRFEC, is being taken forward in close collaboration with multi-agency child protection committees and other stakeholders.

  Work is underway with the child protection practitioner community, through one of the workstreams of the 1998 review group, to ensure the GIRFEC risk assessment approach can be robustly and confidently used to support improved recognition of risks to vulnerable children and improved response to meeting their needs

  HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) are near the end of the first round of inspections of services to protect children in each local authority area in Scotland. As well as identifying excellent practice and enabling this to be shared, inspection has brought to light some areas where urgent action has been needed to improve child protection service provision. This has led to significant improvements, notably in Midlothian and more recently Aberdeen.

  The Scottish Government instructed HMIE in March 2009 to commence planning to conduct a second round of more targeted child protection inspections, which will build on the findings of the first round, and help embed self-evaluation and continuous improvement through a more proportionate inspection model.

  The Scottish Government facilitates quarterly national meetings of child protection committee chairs, allowing areas to come together to discuss priorities for child protection and share good practice.

  We have also established a multi-agency resource service (MARS), to advise and support partners in the handling of complex child protection cases.

  We are pressing ahead with the implementation of an efficient vetting and barring scheme to exclude from the relevant workforce those who would harm vulnerable groups.

  The Road to Recovery, the national drugs strategy was launched last May, supported by Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action. These outline the work being taken forward to support children affected by parental substance misuse.

  Scottish social work statistics published on 24 June show social work staffing levels have improved in recent years. Social workers vacancies, which stood at nearly 13% in 2003, are down to 7%. Numbers of local authority children’s services staff stand at 7,398 (Whole-time Equivalent in 2008), up 4% from 2006. The full statistics are published at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/23092957/0.

  The Scottish Government produces a quarterly update reporting detailed progress on SG projects and programmes which are relevant to protecting vulnerable children. The latest update is lodged with the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (Bib. number 48575).

Child Welfare

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents involving children in nursery schools were recorded in (a) 2005, (b) 2006, (c) 2007 and (d) 2008.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. We have confirmed that HMIE and the Care Commission check accident logs and the procedures for dealing with them during their inspections.

Dyslexia

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance is available for the testing of adults for dyslexia.

Fiona Hyslop: Free access to dyslexia assessment is available, in certain circumstances, for adults depending on their individual circumstances. Those in higher and further education may have access to free assessment; unemployed adults may be referred for assessment to an occupational psychologist through Jobcentre Plus and, where an individual’s health is adversely affected by possible dyslexia, a general practitioner may refer for free assessment.

Education

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of school leavers in the Lothians region entered higher education in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Keith Brown: Statistics on school leaver destinations by local authority area are published on the Scottish Government website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/leavedestla.

Education

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive for how many children with a coordinated support plan a transition plan is in place 12 months before they finish school, as set out in the code of practice for the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Keith Brown: The information requested is not held centrally.

  The Supporting Children’s Learning code of practice makes it clear that transition planning is expected for most children and young people with coordinated support plans.

Education

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of its news release of 11 June 2009 on national qualifications, how it plans to externally moderate reading skills in secondary schools.

Keith Brown: The qualifications will be awarded on the basis of a portfolio of learner’s work, collected across a number of curriculum areas and a range of contexts of learning, life and work. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and its partners will be working on the details of the new qualifications prior to their implementation from 2012-13. This will include ensuring that the new qualifications have rigorous assessment and quality assurance systems supported by continuous professional development.

Education

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the reduction in the number of teachers in publicly funded schools from 54,375 in 2007 to 53,416 in 2008 and what effect this has had on class sizes.

Keith Brown: The employment of teachers is a matter for local authorities. Between 2007 and 2008 the average primary class size fell from 23.3 to 23.2.

Employment

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its role is in the implementation of the Future Jobs Fund.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government has been seeking to facilitate effective implementation of the Future Jobs Fund, to ensure that its potential is maximised in Scotland. This has involved arranging a workshop for local areas in conjunction with DWP colleagues, as well as creating a web link to allow potential bidders to share information about their proposals. There is also a Scottish steering group for the fund, involving the Scottish Government, Scotland Office and Jobcentre Plus, who are currently involved in the assessment of Scottish bids.

Employment

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider ways to tackle occupational segregation when developing the recently announced 75,000 training places.

Keith Brown: The recently announced 75,000 figure represents the total number of beneficiaries detailed by the project sponsors of 78 successful European Social Funding projects for Lowlands and Uplands Scotland.

  Each project sponsor will be responsible for considering how they will tackle occupational segregation.

Employment

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the recently announced 75,000 training places are in addition to the 50,000 training places announced in 2007.

Keith Brown: The 78 European Social Funding projects for Lowlands and Uplands Scotland, announced by the First Minister on 18 April 2009, are expected to help over 75,000 people gain or sustain employment opportunities through training and skills development.

  The 75,000 figure represents the total number of beneficiaries detailed by the project sponsors of the 78 successful proposals. This figure is not related to the Scottish Government’s ambition to increase opportunities for appropriate training towards 50,000 over three years.

Employment

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-22721 by Fiona Hyslop on 5 May 2009, when it expects Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to report back on the outcome of the equality impact assessment that it will undertake to comply with its public sector duties.

Keith Brown: The outcome of the equality impact assessment of Skills Development Scotland’s corporate and operating plan will be published shortly along with the plan on the SDS website.

Employment

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-22721 by Fiona Hyslop on 5 May 2009, for what reason an equality impact assessment to ensure compliance with its public sector duties has not been previously undertaken by Skills Development Scotland.

Keith Brown: Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has equality impact assessments in place for the products and services delivered by the legacy organisations that came together to form SDS. The process is underway to re-assess these products and services as SDS products and services. SDS will conduct equality impact assessments for all new products and services as they are developed, starting with its corporate and operating plan.

Employment

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to the UK Government regarding changes to the jobseekers allowance scheme to assist in the retention of part-time supply teachers awaiting full-time employment by ending the requirement that they reregister their claim every time their average hours exceed 16 per week.

Keith Brown: Social security benefits are a reserved matter for which the Department of Work and Pensions has responsibility. I understand that for claims between which there is a gap of less than 12 weeks there is a process called "rapid reclaim" in place which minimises the delays associated with a return to jobseeker’s allowance. Given the foregoing, there are no current plans to make the representations suggested.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action can be taken when large or complex industrial sites repeatedly fail an Operator Performance Assessment.

Roseanna Cunningham: Where an operator has failed to achieve a "satisfactory" assessment under the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA’s) Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) scheme, SEPA works with businesses wherever possible to achieve satisfactory compliance with permit conditions. SEPA has a range of options and approaches designed to improve an operator’s performance. They are contained in SEPA’s Enforcement Policy (available on SEPA’s website at http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/policies.aspx ). These options range from preliminary discussions and information about good practice, to formal letters, enforcement notices which require the permit holder to comply with set conditions, suspension or revocation of permits, to a report to the Procurator Fiscal.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many operators of large or complex industrial sites have been reported to the Procurator Fiscal in the last five years for lack of progress towards reaching a satisfactory Operator Performance Assessment.

Roseanna Cunningham: Unsatisfactory performance under the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA’s) Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) scheme does not in itself constitute a criminal offence. During the last five years, SEPA has reported a total of 284 cases to the Procurator Fiscal for breaches of permit conditions under a range of environmental regimes. Eleven of these cases involved permit holders who had received an "unsatisfactory" assessment under the OPA scheme.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the compliance scheme due to be introduced in 2009 to replace the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) will differ from the OPA.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA’s) Compliance Assessment Scheme (CAS) improves on the Operator Performance Assessment (OPA) scheme in a number of ways. While OPA only applies to a limited number of industrial sites, CAS will cover all regulatory regimes for which SEPA is responsible. CAS is based on continual assessment of a permit holder’s performance, rather than the single snapshot approach under OPA. CAS is also designed to assess the operation of facilities more precisely by looking at both environmental performance and environmental management. In addition, CAS will enable SEPA to link the level of fees paid by an operator directly to performance, rewarding good performance and penalising poor performance.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages circumstances under which a person found guilty of wilfully killing, injuring, taking or attempting to kill a badger under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 could, as suggested on page 63 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document , have done so without undertaking the activity knowingly, and, if so, what those circumstances are.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document does not intend to suggest that a person found guilty of wilfully injuring, taking or attempting to kill a badger could have done so unknowingly. The consultation document proposes a new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to injure, take or attempt to kill a badger.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages circumstances under which a person found guilty of cruelly ill-treating a badger under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 could, as suggested on page 63 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document , have done so without undertaking the activity knowingly and, if so, what those circumstances are.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document  does not intend to suggest that a person found guilty of cruelly ill-treating a badger could have done so unknowingly. The consultation document proposes a new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to cruelly ill-treat a badger.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages circumstances under which a person found guilty of the offence of using badger tongs in the course of killing, taking or attempting to kill or take a badger under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 could, as suggested on page 63 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document , have done so without undertaking the activity knowingly and, if so, what those circumstances are.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document  does not intend to suggest that a person found guilty of using badger tongs to kill or take a badger could have done so unknowingly. The consultation document proposes a new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to use badger tongs to kill or take a badger.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages circumstances under which a person found guilty of the offence of selling or offering to sell a live badger under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 could, as suggested on page 63 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document , have done so without undertaking the activity knowingly and, if so, what those circumstances are.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document  does not intend to suggest that a person found guilty of selling or offering to sell a badger could have done so unknowingly. The consultation document proposes a new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to sell or offer to sell a badger.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages circumstances under which a person found guilty of attaching a ring, tag or other marking device to a live badger under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 could, as suggested on page 63 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document , have done so without undertaking the activity knowingly and, if so, what those circumstances are.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document does not intend to suggest that a person found guilty of attaching a ring, tag or other marking device to a live badger could have done so unknowingly. The consultation document proposes a new offence of knowingly causing or permitting another person to attach a ring, tag or other marking device to a live badger.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether section 6(c) of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 exempts from prosecution a person who accidentally kills a badger as a result of a collision with that person’s vehicle.

Roseanna Cunningham: Yes. Section 6(c) of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 would exempt any person from prosecution who accidentally kills a badger while carrying out a lawful action such as driving a vehicle.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the circumstances are in which ministers might issue a restoration notice requiring the restoration of damaged sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) natural features, as proposed on page 72 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document as opposed to the seeking of a voluntary agreement by Scottish Natural Heritage or prosecution.

Roseanna Cunningham: It is normal procedure for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to first seek a land manager’s voluntary cooperation to deliver the restoration of damaged features of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

  If a land manager does not restore such features voluntarily then the only option available at present is prosecution and, if the land manager is found guilty, for the courts to impose a restoration order. This can be a lengthy and uncertain process involving significant effort on the parts of the state prosecution service, the accused and their defence. It is also highly adversarial and likely to affect SNH’s future working relationship with land managers in delivering the conservation of the natural features of SSSIs.

  If the proposal is progressed and receives parliamentary approval, the facility of issuing a restoration notice would be an intermediate enforcement option which could, in many cases, be a more appropriate means of securing the restoration of illegally damaged natural features when voluntary restoration was not forthcoming.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether implementation of the proposals on page 72 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document  would result in prosecution for intentionally or recklessly damaging a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) only where the person or persons committing the damage had not previously complied with the terms of a restoration notice issued by ministers.

Roseanna Cunningham: Should this proposal be progressed and receive Parliamentary approval, it is anticipated that procurators fiscal would still be able to bring prosecutions under section 19 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 without a restoration notice being issued beforehand, depending on the circumstances of each case. In addition, if a third party was responsible for the damage of a Site of Special Scientific Interest then, unless they were in a position to carry out restoration works, prosecution for intentional or reckless damage to the protected natural features would remain the only option available.

  Failure to comply with such a restoration notice would be a criminal offence for which the relevant person or persons could be prosecuted. In that scenario, it would be a matter for the procurator fiscal to decide whether to also prosecute for intentional or reckless damage of the SSSI’s features, and it should be noted that a successful prosecution for this could result in the court issuing a Restoration Order under Section 40 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what information and advice ministers take into consideration when setting the close season for (a) male and (b) female deer.

Roseanna Cunningham: Close seasons have been unchanged for many years, and there are no immediate intentions to vary the dates. We are consulting on how seasons might be set in future. Were the issue to arise in the meantime Scottish ministers would take advice from the Deer Commission for Scotland and would consult other parties interested in deer management issues.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what vehicles are included in the existing offence of driving deer with a vehicle for the purpose of culling.

Roseanna Cunningham: The current legislation includes any vehicle in the offence of intending to drive deer on any land with the intention of taking, killing or injuring them, unless authorised to do so. However, the use of any aircraft or hovercraft is specifically excluded even when driving deer with authorisation.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its proposals to replace the requirement to obtain an authorisation to drive deer with a vehicle for the purpose of culling with a new offence of driving deer, reckless as to the consequences for their welfare suggested on page 18 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document would include the driving of deer by airborne vehicles such as helicopters.

Roseanna Cunningham: The proposed new offence on driving deer recklessly referred to in the consultation on the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill would include the use of aircraft to drive deer recklessly.

Environment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, if (a) the eight existing special protection areas are annulled or (b) section 3 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is repealed as suggested on page 75 of its Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Consultation Document , other existing legislation will protect wild birds in those areas from damage to habitat through the reintroduction of public access.

Roseanna Cunningham: Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as amended by the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 now provides the full range of protection to all wild birds as is given by Areas of Special Protection (ASP) with the exception that an ASP Order can also restrict public access to an area. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 established a right of responsible access to land and inland water throughout Scotland with certain limited exceptions. Scottish Natural Heritage is aware of no instances where public access is a cause for concern on Areas of Special Protection. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code gives additional advice on how to avoid damaging protected sites and disturbing wildlife. Damage would, in many cases, be a criminal offence and be dealt with under relevant legislation.

Health

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of NHS Lothian patients experiencing strokes was admitted to a specialist unit within 24 hours in 2008.

Nicola Sturgeon: These data are not available for 2008. The most recent data for numbers of patients experiencing strokes, admitted to specialist units within NHS Lothian are shown in the following table for 2005-07.

  Percentage of Patients Admitted to a Stroke Unit in NHS Lothian Hospitals Within One Day of Admission, 2005-07.

  

 Hospital
 2005
 2006
 2007


 Royal Infirmary Edinburgh
 38
 50
 41


 St Johns Hospital 
 18
 25
 38


 Western General Hospital
 62
 54
 69



  Source: Information Services Division Scotland national report Stroke Services in Scottish Hospitals 2005-07. The next stroke care audit will be published in September 2009.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24780 by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 June 2009, whether the Review of Nursing in the Community pilots will continue until the full evaluation of the project is reported in autumn 2010.

Nicola Sturgeon: Any decision about the Community Health Nurse Pilots will be dependent on the outcome of the interim evaluation which will be completed by the end of December 2009.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made an assessment of the costs to NHSScotland of single status pay.

Nicola Sturgeon: The 1997 "Single Status Agreement" is an agreement which applies to local government employees and not NHS Scotland employees. It is an agreement which brought together the pay and conditions of service of manual workers and administrative, professional and technical employees. The term single status pay is sometimes erroneously used more narrowly to refer to equal pay claims in local government.

  In the NHS, equal pay claims are subject of various ongoing legal proceedings. It is not, therefore, considered possible make any estimate of financial liability at this stage as the lack of information available would mean that any such estimate is likely to be misleading. The progress of all equal pay issues in NHSScotland is being monitored closely.

NHS Staff

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much single status pay will cost each NHS board and Special Health Board.

Nicola Sturgeon: The 1997 "Single Status Agreement" is an agreement which applies to local government employees and not NHS Scotland employees. It is an agreement which brought together the pay and conditions of service of manual workers and administrative, professional and technical employees. The term single status pay is sometimes erroneously used more narrowly to refer to equal pay claims in local government.

  In the NHS, equal pay claims are subject of various on-going legal proceedings. It is not, therefore, considered possible to make any estimate of financial liability at this stage as the lack of information available would mean that any such estimate is likely to be misleading. The progress of all equal pay issues in NHSScotland is being monitored closely.

NHS Staff

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in the recruitment of consultant psychiatrists to fill vacancies in NHS (a) Lanarkshire, (b) Highland and (c) Ayrshire and Arran.

Nicola Sturgeon: The current number of consultant vacancies in psychiatry within NHSScotland and the indicated boards is as follows:

  

NHS Board 
  (All Figures Are As At 30 September 2008)
 Total Number Consultants in Psychiatry
 Total Consultant Psychiatry Vacancies
 Posts Vacant Over Six Months


 NHSScotland 
 522
 43
 16


 NHS Ayrshire and Arran
 23
 8
 3


 NHS Lanarkshire
 48
 13
 7


 NHS Highland 
 21
 6
 6



  NHS Ayrshire and Arran currently reports an improvement in their vacancy level with candidates appointed to five posts. NHS Highland and NHS Lanarkshire indicate that locum cover is in place with an active recruitment programme running to fill these posts on a substantive basis. NHS Lanarkshire also indicates that of the vacancies listed, one of these is a new post created to support the expansion of their eating disorder service.

  In response to feedback from NHS boards regarding shortages of staff in key medical specialties, the Scottish Government Health Workforce Directorate is supporting a new national programme to coordinate and manage international medical recruitment on behalf of NHSScotland. The overall objective is to facilitate a coordinated, NHSScotland branded international recruitment programme. This scheme will be based within, and administered, by NHS Lanarkshire. It will run for an 18-month period and will look to generate a pool of eligible candidates in required medical specialties which boards can recruit to current vacancies.

NHS Staff

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to record vacancy data for psychologists.

Nicola Sturgeon: The National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) and NHS Education for Scotland Psychology Workforce Planning Project plans to initiate recording and reporting of psychology vacancy data during 2010. Information on the current data reported by the project are at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/5381.html .

NHS Staff

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in the recruitment of consultants specialising in old age psychiatry in NHS Highland.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Highland indicate that they currently hold three older adult psychiatry vacancies within NHS Highland. The older adult psychiatry North Highland post has been created by innovative service redesign with the inclusion of additional sessions to incorporate one whole time equivalent post to make it more desirable to prospective candidates. This post will be re-advertised in August 2009. The older adult psychiatry South Highland post is due to be re-advertised also in August 2009. NHS Highland also indicate that they have potential candidates for both posts who will be in a position to apply for these consultant posts after August 2009, one completing their certificate of completion of training (CCT) and one going through the process to be included on the Specialist Register through the Article 14 route. The older adult psychiatry West Highland post is being interviewed for on 18 August and NHS Highland expect to be able to appoint to that vacancy at that time.

Parliamentary Questions

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide substantive answers to questions S3W-24628, S3W-24627, S3W-23977, S3W-23976, S3W-23975, S3W-23974, S3W-23973, S3W-23205, S3W-23204, S3W-23203 and S3W-23202, which have received holding answers.

Bruce Crawford: Information is currently being collated and answers to questions S3W-24628, S3W-24627 and S3W-23205 will follow in due course.

  I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-23977, S3W-23976, S3W-23975, S3W-23974, S3W-23973 on 25 June 2009.

  I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-23204, S3W-23203 and S3W-23202 on 1 July 2009.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it gives to education authorities wishing to avail themselves of the exceptional closures provision in respect of schools.

Keith Brown: No formal guidance has been issued. Under the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975, schools are required to be open for a minimum of 190 days per year. If there are exceptional circumstances which, in authorities’ consideration, make it unreasonable that the regulations should apply, they may seek ministers’ agreement, under the terms of Section 133(4) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to a disapplication.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for exceptional closures of schools have been submitted to the Scottish Government by education authorities in the last 12 months.

Keith Brown: There have been around 70 applications for exceptional closures of schools submitted in the last 12 months, applications which in some cases covered more than one school.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for exceptional closures of schools by education authorities have been rejected in the last 12 months.

Keith Brown: None of the 70 applications was rejected outright, although in a number of cases individual school approval was refused or granted for a reduced number of days’ closure.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual schools have been affected by the rejection of applications for exceptional closure from education authorities.

Keith Brown: There were 34 schools affected in applications that were either partially refused or where the number of days applied for was reduced.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it expects education authorities to undertake prior to applying for the exceptional closure of a school.

Keith Brown: The expectation is that authorities will have consulted parents or parent representatives at the school.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a minimum notice period required prior to the granting of an exceptional closure request for a school.

Keith Brown: Although Section 133(4) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 does not specify a minimum period of notice, ministers require adequate time to give any such application appropriate consideration.

Schools

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive in what circumstances it would reject an application for the exceptional closure of a school.

Keith Brown: In each case, the individual circumstances are carefully considered. Concerns which may lead to an application being rejected would usually focus around the potential loss of education to the pupils affected and the extent to which parents or parent organisations have been consulted about the proposed closure.

Sectarianism

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24630 by Keith Brown on 22 June 2009, how it plans to encourage twinning activities between denominational and non-denominational schools in the 2009-10 academic year.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government document Building Friendships and Strengthening Communities : A Guide to Twinning between denominational and non-denominational schools is available to all schools and local authorities at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/159545/0043404.pdf or in hard copy upon request.

  Examples of good practice in twinning are shared through the anti-sectarian website Don’t Give It, Don’t Take It and we are currently in discussions with Learning and Teaching Scotland about refreshing this resource to ensure that the positive outcomes of anti-sectarian activity are clearly linked to Curriculum for Excellence http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/antisectarian/index.asp.

Sectarianism

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24630 by Keith Brown on 22 June 2009, how it plans to encourage local authorities to support twinning arrangements between denominational and non-denominational schools.

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24630 by Keith Brown on 22 June 2009, when it plans to write to the directors of education of all local authorities asking how they will encourage twinning arrangements between denominational and non-denominational schools.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Government has no plans to write to directors of education in this regard. Within the terms of the Concordat it is for local authorities to identify their own priorities and pursue their own approaches to tackling anti-sectarianism. Decisions on twinning arrangements will depend on local circumstances and are a matter for local authorities in consultation with their communities and church representatives.

Teachers

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers who qualified in each of the last three years have not secured full-time teaching posts.

Keith Brown: All newly qualified teachers who are eligible to join the teacher induction scheme are offered full-time teaching posts for a one year probationary period. Information is not collected centrally on the full employment history of individual teachers.

Teachers

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average salary is for (a) primary and (b) secondary school head teachers, broken down by school size range.

Keith Brown: This information is not collated centrally. All head teacher posts are allocated a specific salary point on the common pay spine for both head teachers and deputes. Salaries for head teachers in all primary and secondary schools are determined on an individual basis in line with the responsibilities of the post.

Teachers

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduate teachers there have been in the Lothians region in each of the last three years and how many went on to gain employment in (a) less than six months, (b) six months or more and (c) a year or more, broken down by local authority area.

Keith Brown: All teachers in Scotland are graduates. The number of teachers in each local authority is published each year in Teachers in Scotland , available on the government website using the following link:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubTeacherCensus.

  The publication also contains information on the number of teachers on the probationer induction scheme. All graduates joining the induction scheme gain employment at the start of the next academic year, as this is guaranteed under the scheme.

  Information is not collected centrally on the full employment history of individual teachers.